After a long absence from the basketball court, the 2009 Yreka High School graduate is a freshman starting point guard for the College of the Siskiyous women's basketball squad. The oldest player on the team at age 21, Watson has fit right in and is averaging more than 10 points per game for the Lady Eagles. The team downed Bakersfield 68-50 at a tournament in Monterey on Thursday to improve to 9-1 for the year.

After practice on Wednesday, Watson talked about her long journey back to COS and the basketball team.

A year ago, Carrie said she would not have foreseen that she would be back at school playing basketball in college.

She admits that she fell in with the wrong crowd and was doing things she was not proud of and did not like the direction her life was going. "I did some dumb stuff," she said.

Watson said she had a drug problem and was not in a good place. While she said that she never got arrested and did not do anything "major," she knew that she had a problem and needed help. Finally, in February of this year, with the support of her parents Marcy and Gary Watson – who Carrie said have been a huge support for her through all of this – she was sent to the Empire Recovery Center & Rehabilitation in Redding where she spent 45 days. She said she went in for an addiction to drugs such as oxycodone and opiates. While in the program, Watson said that she started to pick the basketball again, enjoyed it, and knew she wanted to play sports again.

When asked where she would have been right now in her life if she did not get help and go into rehab, Watson replied: "Honestly, I would probably be doing what I was doing before and doing whatever it took to find my next fix... I'm grateful for what I have now."

At Yreka High, Watson was a well known three-sport star and earned first team Northern Section League honors in volleyball, basketball and softball.

Longtime COS women's head basketball coach Tom Powers knew that Watson was a very talented athlete and said she is one of the best he had seen in his long career at COS. Watson came to COS in the fall of 2009 but said she felt overwhelmed and did not enjoy her experience the first time around. It did not help, she said, that she did not feel a part of the basketball team and did not get along as well as she would have liked with her teammates. A short time later she left school.

During the ensuing years, Watson lived in both Yreka and Montague and said that she had a number of odd jobs but nothing stuck and she started to get into a rut.

Page 2 of 3 - One of the people to encourage her to go back to school and try sports again is Amy Conroy, who became friends with Watson when she coached the Yreka High girls freshman team during Carrie's senior year. Carrie said that having people like Amy in her life gave her the support she needed to go back to school and try basketball again. While Amy now lives in Salem, Ore., Carrie said they still talk several times a week. Watson said that Jon Cox, the new softball coach at COS, was interested in her playing softball. And, of course, Powers also wanted her to come back and try basketball again.

Watson decided that it was time to try school and sports again.

"I was just happy to get back, but I didn't know what to expect," she said, "but I love it and I love all my teammates. They have been just unbelievable."

Powers said since Watson left COS in 2009 he had tried to encourage her to come back and was pleased she has returned. He said that he knew what type of person and athlete she was and if she came back what she could do for the basketball program and what the sports program and the school could do for her.

"It's why I kept recruiting her all those years," he said. "I still saw something in her and knew what she could do. I felt that if she returned and got going again and we were there to help her good things would happen."

Powers said he was fully aware of Watson's troubles and said he and his coaching staff have strived to make sure she has positive influences and guidance in place.

"It's just a lot of fun to have Carrie on the team," Powers said. "She's worked so hard and has led by example. She's just been awesome."

Carrie plans to play softball this spring and is excited to begin that sports again. Powers, who is also the head volleyball coach at COS said there is a chance Watson may even try volleyball next fall, which shows what a versatile and expectational athlete she is, he said.

Powers believes that Watson has only scratched the surface of her abilities and believes that if she keeps improving she will have a terrific career at COS, which includes the potential to move on to a four-year school.

"She's getting better all the time," Powers said. "Everyone here is happy for her." The key, he said, is that Carrie is dedicated and "is looking to get better, She knows that she has to keep her focus on school and her sports."

Watson said it is certainly a top goal of hers to get the chance to play on the four-year level.

Page 3 of 3 - One thing that Watson said has meant a lot to her is the support from people she knows from Yreka. During home games she had seen a number of people from Yreka rooting her on, including parents of girls she played sports with at Yreka High.

Watson said that seeing all that supports helps her and she does not want to let them down. Carrie said that she has strived to do great things on the court and to continue to keep her life in order off the court.

"It would have been so much harder without my support system," she said, "So many people have been there for me."

Carrie said that she and her teammates have a lot of goals and expectations this season.

"Of course we want to go on to state and win league,"she said. "We're just working hard to meet our goals."

On Wednesday, Watson was back at practice for the first time since suffering a dislocated left shoulder injury which caused her to miss two games. Carrie was grateful that the injury was not on her shooting shoulder, which would have likely meant more time missed.

Watson admitted it's been a bit strange being the oldest player on the team. When she was in high school she was normally one of the youngest players on a team. "Now, I'm the oldest," she said. Watson said that her teammates joke about her age and call her "old lady," she said with a laugh.

Carrie said that Powers and the entire coaching staff are quite knowledgeable about basketball and said in her time on the team she has tried to absorb what they are teaching her and take her game to the next level.

When asked what her expectations were coming into the season, Watson said she really didn't have any. "I just wanted to help the team and play basketball," she said. To be starting and being a key contributor has exceeded her expectations.

"I'm just so happy to be playing again," she said."I'm happy I still have the skill sets I had before."